Horses & History
by the Anastasia Collection
Summary: [ANASTASIA] By Kelly. This is from the scene of the movie during "Learn to Do It" where they're riding horses. It starts off at the stables in Germany... ©98. Plz read&review, thx!


**"Horses & History" **   
by Kelly 

Summary: [ANASTASIA] This is from the scene of the movie during "Learn to Do It" where they're riding horses. It starts off at the stables in Germany... ©98. Plz read&review, thx!   
~*~ 

"So, we can rent three horses, and leave them at the stables in Hamburg?" Vlad asked the man. The man nodded. 

"Yes." 

"How much?" Dimitri asked. Their funds were getting startingly low and he didn't want to overspend. Anya, who was ready to do anything besides walk, elbowed him. He rolled his eyes and turned away, but couldn't stay annoyed for long. These past few days, they had gotten a lot closer, and weren't really enemies anymore. He actually found himself enjoying her company on rare occasions. 

"Eight Marks." 

"And that is _how_ much in rubles?" Vlad asked. The man rubbed his chin. 

"I'd say about... Five, I'd guess." 

"That's not too bad!" Anya whispered to Dimitri. He wrinkled his nose. 

"Five Rubles!" 

"Please," Anya pleaded. "If I walk any longer I'm going to faint or something, I just know it!" Vlad looked at Dimitri. 

"C'mon, 'Mitri. We can't be _that_ low on funds." Dimitri saw he was outnumbered. 

"Fine. But if we run out of money it's not _my_ fault." He shrugged. Anya gave a shout in joy, then hugged him around the neck. Dimitri stumbled back in surprise. "Whoa. Now _I'll_ be the one to faint." Anya laughed and picked up Pooka. The man and his assitant came back with three horses. One was a light brownish color. 

"This one is Honey." 

"Oh, how sweet," Vlad said as Honey nuzzled him. "I'll ride her." 

"This one is King," the other man said, pulling forth a white horse. Anya looked into the horse's blue eyes. She turned to Vlad. 

"I've never ridden a horse before." 

"King is the gentlest," the man said. Vlad motioned that she would take that one. 

Finally they brought forth another, a dark black one with raging black eyes that looked nervously around and fidgeted. He tossed his black mane hauntingly and Dimitri found himself drawn to this one in wonder. 

"His name is Thunder. But... he doesn't take kindly to anyone," the man warned. Dimitri wasn't listening. He reached out and touched the horse's nose. The horse stopped raging and looked into Dimitri's own brown eyes. For an instant they knew each other's thoughts, almost understood each other. Anya gasped as she watched the two seem to connect for just a moment, then Dimitri backed away. The man raised his eyebrows. "You're the first one that Thunder has ever taken to like that." 

"I'll ride him," Dimitri said hurriedly. The men nodded as Dimitri handed over the money for the horses and the three climbed their steads and set off with Pooka trying to ride on the front of Anya's as she held him with one arm. 

They rode for the better part of the day. Anya found it hard to control King no matter how calm he was so she finally handed Pooka to Vlad, who was a more expieranced horseman. Dimitri used the opportunity to challenge Anya to races- most of which he won, with a rare race that Dimitri let her win. 

"Dimitri, where did you learn to ride?" Anya asked once, as Vlad slowed down far behind them. 

"Oh, here and there." He shrugged again. Anya sighed. 

"You never tell me much about your past," she mumbled. "You're always so secretive." She shook her head. Dimitri blushed and looked away. He smiled. 

"I don't know. There's not much to tell." 

"What about your parents? You must have had some." she inquired. Dimitri turned to look at her. 

"Don't ask." His eyes had turned cold, his lips drawn taunt in a thin line. Anya looked away. What had she done wrong? Tried to make some polite conversation... oh, why did she _want_ to be friends with him in the first place. He was rude, arrogant, stubborn... yet, there was something exciting about him. Mysterious. He sparked curiosity in her that she never thought she'd feel, as well as feelings that she determined were not true. Vlad had just then managed to catch up. Soon the three of them all were at a gentle trot together. 

Dimitri slowed up a bit without noticing as he looked at the landscape around them. Why _didn't_ he tell her about his past? Because it still hurt, as much as he wanted to deny it. It hurt like mad, and sometimes he wanted to scream from the pain despite how brave a front he put on. 

His father, Gerii, was a scholor of high prestige. Dimitri was born into a middle class family... until Gerii suddenly died of influenza when Dimitri was five. His younger sister, Ella, only two, soon followed. His mother Leah was left to raise a young boy the best that she could. She took a job in a cafe, but soon learned that the meager amount of ten kopecks per day wasn't enough to raise a growing boy who need food, clothes, and schooling. She was desperate, at the end of her rope. She managed to locate her brother, Yuri, a cook at the Imperial Palace, and entrusted him with Dimitri. 

Yuri was pleased to have an assitant in the kitchen, and life for Dimitri wasn't too bad for awhile. Yuri's influence made sure that Dimitri wasn't treated too harshly and had fairly little to do. But then Yuri died of a heart attack in 1913, three weeks after recieving word that Leah had died of cholera. 

Without Yuri, Dimitri was left as a lowly kitchen boy, alone in the world and hardly worth his keep. He dreamed of a life in the public eye as an actor, a very rare position in Russia, yet still full of glory. He could lie his way out of anything, including a whipping from an irate servant. He tended to put his well-being ahead of others, yet he _did_ save Anastasia the night of the party when he was ten. But where had it gotten him? Ten lousy years as a con-man in St. Petersburg, that's where. 

Dimitri snapped to attention. Where was everyone? Had he gotten ahead of them? He glance behind him; Vlad was there, but not Anya... He raced ahead, looking for Anya. There she was! She had gotten ahead of _him_! 

"Ha, Dimitri!" she cried as she waved back at them. She braced herself and leaned against the horse as it jumped over a fence in their path. Dimitri slowed as Vlad sped up and jumped the fence easily. 

"Hey, there's nothing to it!" he shouted as he kept riding to catch up to Anya. Dimitri wrinkled his nose and sped his horse up super fast. _Now_ they'd see who was the champion horse rider. Anya stopped her horse and turned around to watch him. He smiled and gave a nonchalant wave, then leaned into the horse. Anya watched his muscles tense up to prepare himself and she felt her heart leap into her throat. 

Dimitri grinned at her watching him; then got ready to leap over the fence. The horse started to jump to it... then stopped. Dimitri flew over the horse and into the mud. Vlad started to laugh heartily. Anya giggled as she spurred her horse back to her companion laying in the mud. 

"Are you all right?" she called down to him. He sat up, mud covering his face. 

"Fine, just fine. Dumb horse..." he grumbled, as he wiped mud our of his eyes. 

"No way, Dimitri. Horses aren't dumb... their riders may be, but not the horses." He scowled at her as he got ahold Thunder's reins again. Anya jumped off of King and walked over to him. She reached into his vest pocket, and pulled out a handkerchief- where she knew he always kept one. "Here, clean your face." 

"I'm fine!" he said stubbornly. Anya sighed and started to do it for him, against his protests. "Hey!" he swatted at her hand. 

"Just hold still..." she said. She wiped his nose and across his cheek when their eyes met. She quickly got the last of the mud off and handed him his now filthly handkerchief. "Sorry about that." He took it and looked back up at her to scowl; but instead his eyes met hers once more, at first with anger, then softly with affection. Anya blushed and started to pet King. "You were lucky your face got most of the mud." Dimitri was wiping his face once more. 

"I guess so." He looked down at his relatively spotless shirt. Vlad suddenly appeared beside them on Honey. 

"If you two are ready to go on..." 

"Of course," Dimitri said. He turned to Anya, who was trying to get back up in King's saddle. "Need help?" 

"No..." He laughed at her stubborn attitude and gave her a hoist up by placing his hands on her waist and lifting her up. She felt her sides tingle at his touch but she shook it off. Instead, Anya looked back down at him as he got into Thunder's saddle gracefully. She smiled gently at him. "Well, lets go," he said. But Vlad shouted for them to stop. 

"Anya, it was okay for you to ride astride up till this point, but going into town you must ride side-saddle if you truly want to be a princess." 

"Side-saddle?" she cried. "How do you ride side-saddle?" Vlad bit his lower lip in thought. 

"Well, you swing your legs over the saddle..." Anya did that. "And hold on tightly for the ride of your life! Yah!" he cried, spurring Honey on. Dimitri and Thunder went off, but Anya was having more trouble with King. 

"Wait! I can't go as fast as you!" Dimitri and Vlad stopped and waited for her to catch up. "Do I _seriously_ have to ride side-saddle?" 

"If you want to look like the Grand Duchess, yes." 

"But I don't care what anybody else thinks! I mean, it's not like I'm gonna give a riding show to the Empress, right...?" she argued. Dimitri chuckled, but quickly turned it into a cough when she gave him a dirty look. 

"Look, we're almost to the village," he said. "Then we'll do something else." 

"Fine," Anya said hesitantly. Vlad smiled at her and started to sing an old Russian folk song to loosen the mood. 

"My love left me at the river... the bluest eyes there ever were..." Anya and Dimitri smiled and joined in as they neared the village slowly. 

_(continues as in the movie)_ __

... 

ANASTASiA™ is copyright of 20thC.Fox, etc. ^_^ 

PS. Believe it or not, this is a work of fiction. All the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary.   
Any resemblence to actual persons etc, living or dead, is completely coincidental. ^_~ 

written by Kelly ©98, edited by SimbiAni™ ©2G4 


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